WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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The Environmental Protection Agency evicted around 1,000 people from the West Calumet Housing Complex, because of lead and arsenic contaminated soil. The Superfund site was formerly a US Smelting and Lead Refinery facility, and includes part of the former USS Lead facility. Areas nearby include commercial, municipal, and residential buildings. According to EPA records, the site was originally used as a lead ore refinery. Surrounding businesses at the time were engaged in similar operations.
Residences of the West Calumet Housing Complex were demolished back in April, 2018. The EPA said they plan a seven-month cleanup of the area, which would remove the top two feet of contaminated soil and disposing it at a landfill. The current proposal would rezone the site for industrial or commercial use. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland said two commercial or industrial developers are interested in the space.
Area residents said they want the site to be fully remediated; East Chicago Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group and Calumet Lives Matter prefer a plan that costs about $50 million, instead of the EPA’s $26.5 million plan, to ensure a full clean-up of the area. The EPA’s current plan would not address contamination deeper than two feet of soil. Citizen groups also said the limited clean-up would limit residential redevelopment.
The EPA recently cancelled a January 14 meeting, due to the government shutdown. Residents had requested the meeting, to air concerns about remediation efforts. With the federal government re-opened for the next three weeks, its uncertain whether the agency will reschedule that public input meeting.
